Gleanings of the Week Ending November 22, 2025

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Spotted Lanternfly Biology and Lifecycle – Missouri is trying to stop them from gaining a foothold in the state….but it will take a lot of vigilance. The invasive insects are already in Illinois and could move into Missouri very easily – particularly as egg masses on vehicles. In the current infestations, spotted lanternfly has shown to have one generation per year consisting of four nymphal stages, an adult stage, and overwintering as egg masses.

Could Non-Invasive Colon Cancer Screening Replace Colonoscopies? – It would be great if these could work….colonoscopies are invasive tests….but, for now, they are the only choice for a reliable screening for colon cancer.

13 Non-Toxic, Plastic Free Electric Kettles for a Healthy Cup – A plastic free electric kettle is on my wish list for this year. It will be used a lot in my office.

Reindeer Hunting Artifacts Emerge from Melting Ice in Norway - Melting ice in Norway has revealed a 1,500-year-old reindeer trap, preserved beneath centuries of snow and ice layers. Archaeologists uncovered wooden mass-capture fences, marked antlers, weapons, and a unique decorated oar from the site this year.

Why are thyroid cancer cases increasing across the world? - We're likely observing a multifactorial phenomenon that includes environmental, metabolic, dietary and hormonal influences, possibly interacting with underlying genetic susceptibility.

A Bird in Mourning Wins the 2025 European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest – Great photos!

Anxiety is one of the world’s most common health issues. How have treatments evolved over the last 70 years? – I was surprised that no new drugs have been approved since 2004. While existing treatments can be very effective for some people — in fact, life-changing for some — we still have some way to go to develop effective treatments for everyone who struggles with an anxiety disorder, and ensure these treatments are available to them.

What a baby's first poo can tell you about their future health - T he Baby Biome study, which aims to understand how a baby's gut microbiome – the trillions of microbes living in their digestive tract – affect their future health. Babies born vaginally seem to inherit most of their bacteria from their mother's digestive tract; babies born via C-section had more bacteria associated with hospital environments.

From Ruins to Reuse: How Ukrainians Are Repurposing War Waste - Russian bombardments have generated more than a billion tons of debris across Ukraine since 2022. Now, local and international efforts are meticulously sorting the bricks, concrete, metal, and wood, preparing these materials for a second life in new buildings and roads. 

Our Plan to Restore the Gulf Coast for People and Wildlife - America’s Gulf Coast stretches over 1,700 miles and is home to 15,000 species of fish and wildlife, making it one of the most biodiverse areas in the country. It’s also one of the fastest-growing—the counties that border the Gulf are home to approximately 65 million people. Despite the challenges, including federal funding cuts to states, shifting political priorities and increasingly destructive storms and flooding, the National Wildlife Federation remains optimistic about what we can achieve in the next five years and the decades to come.

Plastics Crisis – Getting Plastic Out of the Kitchen

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A good starting point for reducing microplastics in food is to eliminate plastics in the kitchen. This blog post focuses on the plastics not associated with food packaging.

I bought a set of glass containers for leftovers/food storage and boxed up my old plastic containers; that created some extra space to reduce the crowding in my lower cabinets. The old mugs with plastic components and plastic reusable water bottles were also boxed since I have ceramic and stainless mugs (that I use without the lid most of the time since it is plastic). I also have stainless steel reusable water bottles – haven’t figured out a good way to no use the plastic lid though.

I am negotiating with my husband on mixing bowls. I have one large stainless-steel bowl which I will use for mixing – get rid of the red plastic ones. He likes one of our older plastic bowls for popcorn….and I’m not sure he is willing to let it go.

I am challenged to get rid of my Nordic Ware Microwave Popcorn Popper. I like popping corn without oil and in the microwave. But – the bowl does get very hot and that probably means it is shedding microplastics into my popcorn. I have also noticed that my air purifier detects particles in the air when I take the Nordic Ware bowl out of the microwave (the fan motor runs higher) ….so it’s time to get rid of the plastic bowl. I am experimenting with cardboard boxes and paper bags to contain the popping corn…dumping the popcorn into a glass bowl to eat it (with salt or butter or both applied after it is in the glass bowl).

I have a few old pans and muffin tins with non-stick coatings that I still need to take out of my kitchen…a job for another day.

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Plastics Crisis – Beyond Plastics Grass Roots Advocacy Training

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The Beyond Plastics Grass Roots Advocacy Training for Local Groups was a 2-hour online training offered by the Beyond Plastics organization in late October. It was very well done and built on the things I learned but never fully applied in the HoLLIE (Howard County Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment) back in early 2018. The focus of HoLLIE was broader….but learning to have productive interactions with government (particularly at the local level) was very similar. Perhaps having a narrower focus will make it easier for me to go beyond public outreach.

The session was recorded, and they committed to sending out reference links afterward – primarily to items within the Beyond Plastics site. I managed to get some in my notes and have already started reviewing them.

My first action was to craft an email to everyone I know that might be interested in forming a local group in the Springfield area….hoping to find at least 3 people to form a local group… and start identifying our partners.

Missouri has a ‘ban on bans’ law that will limit our advocacy, but there are still a lot of opportunities to increase awareness of the issue and begin to reduce plastics (and microplastics) in our environment. The key for our local group will be to pick a reasonable initial goal…and start.

I also found out about an upcoming webinar: Protecting Our Health: Toxic Chemicals in Plastics  on November 12th at 6 PM CT and signed up for that.

And I pre-ordered Judith Enck’s book: The Problem with Plastics coming out in early December.

Beyond Plastics is a great resource and will be very helpful as we develop our goal(s) and plan. I have signed up to get their emails.

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Plastics Crisis – Miscellaneous thoughts

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There is a lot about microplastics in the news; I’ve added some of the articles to my Gleanings posts. Microplastics are an overwhelming challenge to every living thing…and thus an overwhelming challenge to us. It is hard to find truly effective means to do something about them – to reduce their prevalence in our lives and in our broader environment. The actions I have taken so far seem small but maybe they are a place to start….there need to be bigger actions to make a difference. In this post I in including some of my thoughts over the past few weeks…as I search for the path beyond changes I can make to reduce microplastics (somewhat) in my own life.

  • Plastics are not part of any heritage…they are too new for that. They are damaging our environment in ways that degrades our health slowly. By the time we think of plastics as part of our heritage, it might be too late to stop our decline as a species.  

  • It is time that we realize that there is a price for plastics’ convenience in our lives that we are just now beginning to pay.

  • Hotels use plastic glasses in their rooms now….wrapped in more plastic. Not that long ago they were glass. Ice buckets are plastic and there is a plastic bag liner. We assume that the plastic makes it ‘clean’ but is that true?

  • The plastic pots the small plants were purchased in were very flimsy. They cracked as I flexed them to get the plants out as I planted the seedlings into my yard. They are another source of single use plastic.

  • Spaghetti sauce is easy to find in glass jars…unlike a lot of other foods. It seems not that long ago that it was easy to find mustard and lemon juice in glass. Not anymore.

  • Why aren’t cosmetic companies advertising products that are free of microplastics/endocrine disruptors?

  • Why aren’t retailers demanding less plastic packaging particularly when it adds little or no value. For example: multiple plastic layers around larger packages of toilet paper, the plastic insert in tissue boxes that has to be removed before the cardboard can be recycled, and the little window in paper bags of cookies that makes that bag unrecyclable.

When I bring up microplastics in conversation, everyone seems somewhat aware of the problem, and many are as alarmed as I am. At the same time, everyone seems to be anxious but doesn’t know what to do. There appears to be no leadership from any level of government. Maybe the pervasiveness of microplastics puts them into a new category of issues that our modern cultures do not know how to address…and that is resulting in no action. Climate change is another such issue and the experience to date has been frustrating to everyone. Again – the default seems to be to forge ahead toward a dystopian future because the magnitude of the issue is too overwhelming.

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Plastics Crisis: A continuing journey

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The past few weeks have been very busy, and I haven’t had time report on my continuing journey.

I attended my first ‘show me less plastics’ bimonthly zoom meeting. Everyone on the call seemed to be in the same initial mode…trying to figure out how to move forward. The largest group was from St. Louis…some from Kansas City and Columbia. There was one other person from Springfield. I will continue to dial into the zoom meetings and use them as a forcing function for myself to have something to report!

CNN did an experiment with three of its reporters (in New York, London, and Hong Kong) wearing chemical-tracking wristbands to find out what kind of chemicals they are exposed to. The video report can be found online - https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/08/climate/video/chemical-monitoring-wristbands-climate-digvid although there is not a lot of detail…it does indicate that people in big cities are probably exposed to a lot of chemicals as they go about their daily lives.

Living near a smaller city (Springfield MO), I do track the air quality. I know that when it is not green, the PM2.5 pollutants are usually the pollutant that is high…and that is made of microplastics and associated chemicals. The air quality where I lived in Maryland (between Baltimore and DC) prior to moving to Springfield was yellow more frequently and, sometimes, even made it to the red level.  So – moving to Springfield probably has reduced my exposure somewhat.

When I had my annual checkup with my doctor, I brought up microplastic exposure and she acknowledged the issue…but didn’t have any specific recommendations about what to do aside from avoiding bottled water and looking hard at getting plastics out of the kitchen, particularly anything that is heated and contacts food.

I have reduced my soft drink consumption to almost zero (avoid plastic bottles) and am drinking more iced tea. But wait….coffee makers (that I was using to make tea) have a lot of plastics and there are plastic fibers in many filters (so they will hold up better) and some tea bags are glued together (a plastic). Obviously there is heat involved in making tea so I changed my process:

  • Old Pyrex measuring cup (it was my mother’s and the markings are almost worn off)

  • Cut open the tea bag and empty the contents into the water

  • Heat in the microwave

  • Strain the tea leaves with a metal strainer

It’s becoming a good routine….and I am aware that making tea is becoming a ritual rather than just a routine because of the old Pyrex. It could be almost as old as I am!

One thing I am noticing…my trash and recycle are trending downward…not as much in the bins. That’s a good thing!

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Plastics crisis: Interactions with Food Manufacturers

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I chose a product that I buy frequently – Lactaid 2% milk – and went through the process of figuring out how to contact the manufacturer to stress my concern about microplastics in food from plastic packaging.

I found their ‘contact us’ web page and used the ‘email us’ option intended for comments, questions, and feedback. They responded in less than 24 hours with a response pointing to what they were doing to increase the recycled plastic content in their packaging. I sent a second ‘email us’ that included their reference number for my previous comment emphasizing that I was interested in net reduction in plastic packaging because of the microplastics it adds to food…I wanted to buy their product in non-plastic packaging. I got the same response. I became uncertain that there was a person behind the response or simply an AI selected canned message that didn’t answer the question/comment. I got two survey forms (one for each use of the ‘email us’) and filled them out the same….that I was unsatisfied with the response.

(Update: I got a call based on the ‘unsatisfied’ feedback on the survey! Now I am more confident that my concern has been heard. I am not confident that they will move to non-plastic packaging for at least some of their produces…but I have given then a heads-up that there may begin to be a lot more people concerned about microplastics in our food. I’ll see if there is anything new on their packaging on their website in a month or so.)

I am not going to buy their product again and I’m not sure I want to buy any other milk either. I am considering returning to a calcium supplement as I did years ago and getting protein from other sources.

Taking another route:

Beyond Plastics has a letter from members for consolidation into a package for Coco-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestle about their contribution to plastic pollution around the world. They sent a draft which I personalized and returned.

A second call came out from Beyond Plastics to contribute a letter to Coca-Cola specifically urging them to expand their successful El Paso refillable beverage system to every community rather than continuing to use plastic bottles.

The experience has been eye opening in the sense that it appears that food manufacturers are still relatively clueless about the growing awareness of microplastics in our environment and the news of the micro and nano plastics found in many parts of our body. It is no longer about forging ahead with plastic packaging…..it is about net reducing the plastics packaging for foods.

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Plastics Crisis – Trash Inventory

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I wrote about plastics I recycle a few days ago. Today I am focused on the plastics that end up in my trash.

There are little bits of plastic packaging - mostly wrappers from lens/screen wipes, single serving electrolyte powder, and protein bars. There are probably alternatives to a lot of these little bits of plastic packaging: Could we go back to small spray bottles and cloth/tissue wipes for our glasses, phones, and screens? Probably we should. Perhaps I can buy a cardboard container of powdered electrolytes rather than single serving packages; there is still a plastic lid and does not work that well for travel. Maybe I should start thinking about protein bars as ultra processed food and develop a homemade version that isn’t…or eat nuts rather than protein bars.

There is plastic packaging from raw meats like bacon and hamburgers and chicken. It seems like all meat is packed in plastic these days. And it is plastic that is messy…and not in a form that can be recycled. It is touching the food and could easily be adding microplastics. There are not a lot of good alternatives although sometimes buying frozen meat means that the plastic is not clinging to it (for example: Bubba burgers and bags of frozen boneless chicken breasts). There is not an alternative to bacon plastic packaging that can think of. Before plastic – meat was often wrapped in white paper – still messy trash but not plastic.

Bottles that are too messy to recycle easily. I tend to not recycle toilet bowl cleaner bottles; they are too difficult to get clean. I am going to experiment with homemade toilet bowl cleaner (soda, cleaning vinegar, lemon essential oil). Peanut butter is another plastic container that is difficult; I put dish detergent and water in it and after some soaking it will be clean enough…but glass come clean more easily so my preferred solution is to buy peanut butter in glass; it is better that food does not touch plastic!

I don’t use straws often but when I do, I try to use paper ones, so I have eliminated that form of plastic trash – at least when I am at home.

Plastic-coated paper cartons are another form of plastic in my trash. They are not recyclable like the cartons of the 60s would have been. It is unfortunate that in many markets it is hard to buy milk in anything but plastic (jug or plastic-coated carton). I am close to just deciding to pay a lot more to get milk in glass containers…..and to start writing letters to companies about packaging their product in a more healthy and sustainable way. Or – I might decide to not drink milk…somehow make up the nutritional value in other ways.

Bottom line – there is a significant amount of plastic in my trash…not as much as in the recycle bin but still a far amount. It will be in the landfill for a long time and contributing microplastics to the leachate that is, in the best case, sent to a sewage treatment plant that will pass at least some of those microplastics (maybe the smaller ones) through to the river after treatment. Eventually the microplastics can find their way into our water supply (the water treatment plants do not currently take out microplastics) or into our food if the water from the river is used for irrigation of crops.

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Plastics Crisis: As an Individual

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We cannot eliminate micro and nano plastics from our lives. They are in the air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat, and the toiletries we use. They are in us – our lungs, our heart, our kidneys, or brain…everywhere. The impact on our health is something that develops over long exposure/accumulation; research studies are just now beginning to clarify their impact. It is possible to reduce our exposure, and we probably need to do what we can to stay healthy as long as possible. This post is about my initial strategy to reduce micro and nano plastic exposure for myself and my family.

Air

The air purifiers that we bought during the COVID-19 pandemic are still running in our bedroom and my office. They help with seasonal allergies and take out some of the plastics in the air.

I try to reduce time outdoors when the air quality is yellow and avoid going outside if the air quality is red. The PM2.5 (Particulate matter less than 2.5 microns) is almost always the major contributor to the air quality ‘color’ in the area where I live and it includes microplastics. It might not be counting nano-plastics effectively and there are probably some in the air; those are the plastics small enough to move through capillaries in our bodies; hopefully these smaller particles will start being monitored more effectively.

Water

I currently filter the water we drink with Brita Elite water pitchers. They get some of the plastics out of our water. My daughter and I are talking about upgrading…perhaps all the way to reverse osmosis filtration. I have a glass carafe for filtered water in the bathroom since I am always thirsty when I first get up.

We always carry stainless steel water bottles with us when we are out and about. When we leave home they contain filtered water.

On overnight trips, we are taking a filtration pitcher with us so that we can easily refill our water bottles with filtered water. If we need to buy something to drink, we strive to buy it in a can, glass, or paper container….but sometimes that is difficult. I am tempted to ask if I can buy a drink but use my refillable stainless steel container rather than a Styrofoam or plastic cup.

We try to avoid plastic water bottles completely. The plastic sluffs off microplastics – particularly if the bottle has ever been warm.

We don’t use plastic glasses at home…and don’t eat out frequently except when we travel.

Food

Micro plastics are often found in soil and can be absorbed by plants as they grow so they can be in the veggies and fruit we eat, and they accumulate in the animals that provide meat that we eat. Organic foods will have microplastics too; they might even have more plastic since organic farms sometimes use plastic sheeting to avoid the need for chemical weed control and to conserve water around the base of plants. There is not much that can be done to reduce the microplastics that are integrated into our food in this way.

Packaging is another way microplastics can be incorporated into food and there are actions that can be taken to reduce this source of microplastics.

  • Buy fresh fruits and vegetables unpackaged. Use reusable produce bags. Don’t store them in the bags either – particularly if the bags are a synthetic fabric.

  • Buy in glass rather than plastic jars and bottles. Prioritize fatty and acidic foods to buy in glass if you are on a budget. Peanut butter and olive oil are examples of fatty foods. Lemon juice, soft drinks (not a health food ever but even less healthy in plastic), spaghetti sauce, and salad dressing/vinegars are examples of acidic foods. Sometimes this is difficult since some stores only carry the commodity in plastic packaging.

  • Meats are almost always packaged in plastic now, so it is almost impossible to avoid. I buy some meats frozen so that the plastic is not closely touching the food and when there is a canned version (canned chicken, canned chili, canned tamales), I take that option sometimes.

  • Consider making some condiments from scratch (salad dressing, marinade). I already make my own marinade with basaltic vinegar and olive oil. I am going to experiment with making salad dressing so that I can forego buying it pre-made in a plastic bottle.  

  • Avoid plastic bags of things like popcorn (I rarely use the pre-packaged microwave popcorn), pumpkin seeds, or beans. Buy them in bulk (often you can use produce bags to get them from the store to home) and load up glass or metal canisters once  at home. Frequenting a store with a bulk food section will be a continuing experiment for me…the goal will be to reduce plastic containers touching food in my home.

  • Store leftovers in and eat from  glass or ceramic or stainless steel rather than plastic. Use stainless steel or wooden utensils. My cutting board is bamboo.

  • Cook in stainless steel – uncoated – pans.

  • Don’t heat or reheat food in plastic. Glass or ceramic always.

  • Buy eggs in pulp paper cartons rather than Styrofoam or plastic cartons. The eggs probably don’t get much microplastic from their container, but the pulp paper is generally the superior carton, and, like all the above measures, it reduces the plastic trash/recycle load to the environment.

Toiletries

Some plastic is small enough to be absorbed through the skin. There are two sources of plastics in toiletries: packaging and ingredients.

I try to buy cosmetics in glass. Usually this is possible for moisturizers and foundation makeup. There don’t seem to be good alternatives to plastic packaging for most items like shampoo, toothpaste, lotion, lipstick, or lip balm. I have started using bar soap which usually comes in paper wrapping or a box for hand washing and in the shower.

The ingredients in many cosmetics are sometimes microplastics or contain the same chemicals as microplastics. It’s very confusing…I don’t have a good strategy yet to fully understand the risk or how to avoid the worst offenders. I do realize that fewer ingredients is generally better and that maybe some ‘make your own’ would be better (for example, a water – glycerin – essential oil mixture in a glass bottle might be a good replacement for setting spray).

Previous Plastic Crisis posts

Plastics Crisis: Show-Me Less Plastic Workshop

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The Show-me Less Plastic workshop that I attended was provided by a partnership of Missouri River Bird Observatory and Stream Teams United. It is specific to Missouri but part of a nationwide effort from Beyond Plastics. The parts of the workshop that were local to the Springfield, Missouri area were provided by James River Basin Partnership.

It was held in a Springfield library (the photo is of a sculpture in the library) with a Panera Bread that catered the plastic-free lunch.

There was an overview of why plastic pollution is a crisis (health of everything on the planet including us is at increasing risk)…but the audience was already onboard with that. We were also aware of the long-term message from the plastics industry that the convenience of single-use plastic is so fabulous that we simply need to be more successful at recycling to resolve any problems…but recycling hasn’t worked and it is unlikely to ever be sufficient. The industry is assuming that recycling will not work since they are projecting a huge demand for new single use plastic production to take the place of their revenue stream from fossil fuels trending down as more renewable energy becomes available. The problem is huge and may very well be a more imminent threat to lives that climate change.

The bulk of the workshop was focused on going beyond what an individual can do: community education and outreach, influencing business and policy makers….first steps.

I am writing this the day after the workshop. There will be a follow-up email from the workshop coordinators.  There are still some things I am working on as an individual to reduce my family’s risk (but it is not possible to eliminate exposure micro and nano plastics…and it will get harder as there are more plastics in the environment). I have a tentative list of actions, but I want to work with a local Beyond Plastics Affiliate to be with others that are taking similar actions.

I came away from the workshop with one of the ‘door prizes’ – a stainless-steel container (with a straw!)…different than my other water bottles. This one will work well in  the car!

Ten Little Celebrations – August 2025

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August was hot…so some of the celebrations were indoors (with air-conditioning) this month!

Naked lady lilies. It was a pleasant surprise that I have three of these plants in my yard – blooming for the first time this August. But I celebrated them because they are a remnant of my mother’s garden from 2023 just before the house/garden was sold.

Spicebush caterpillars. Earlier this summer my young spicebush didn’t have caterpillars…but is does now. I celebrated that the swallowtails have found my plant to lay their eggs.

Beautyberry. While I was pulling grass and weeds in my yard, I discovered that the beautyberry I planted last fall has survived…and is blooming. Time to celebrate!

Dispelling Myths of Native Gardening webinar (from Grow Native!). I celebrated the timing of a panel discussion about native gardening (webinar)…and gleaned some ideas I will apply in the next few weeks as I create a new area of by front yard…with native plants.

Field trip at the Lake Springfield Boathouse gardens. Another well timed opportunity for learning how to better create my new native plant garden. It was hot…but I learned enough to make it all worthwhile.

Roston Native Butterfly House. Celebrating my favorite volunteer gig of the summer…every time I work a shift there.

Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge. The big cats are the draw, but I celebrated seeing a juvenile racoon and butterflies!

Two caves in one day – Cosmic Caverns and Onyx Cave. Celebrating caves…cooler than the outside temperature.

Dr. Megan Wolff’s webinar “Plastics and Public Health: the unsettling latest in medical research.” A different kind of celebration…it’s more like FINALLY someone had done a reasonable job to at articulating the rationale in one place about why our plastic creation must change dramatically. Here’s the link to the video. The bottom line is that we can’t “recycle” or “reuse” our way out of the mess.

Lawn mowing – getting it done. It’s been hot this month and I celebrate every time I finish mowing the yard…so glad that it is done for another week.

Plastics Crisis: Getting Focused

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In early August, I saw an article that made the point that the World Cannot Recycle Its Way Out of Plastics Crisis. A few days later, I saw the notice for a community workshop about using less plastic and I registered. They sent out a list of documentaries and webinars to view prior to the workshop. I viewed almost all of them; they were all good and thought provoking but the tipping point for me was Dr. Megan Wolff’s webinar on plastics and health presented for Missouri River Bird Observatory in March 2025; I highly recommend viewing this in its entirety to everyone that is concerned about health of the planet and every living thing on it, including ourselves.

I have been concerned about single use plastics for the past few years. Stories reporting about how microplastics (and nanoplastics) being found in more and more parts of our bodies keep coming out …and how they are damaging to health. Most of the data has been correlations, but recent research it pointing to the details of how the small bits of plastic cause problems.  

A few days after watching the video, the news came out: Global plastic treaty talks end in failure as countries remain bitterly divided over how to tackle the crisis. There was an attempt to hold out some hope: Plastic pollution treaty talks adjourn, but countries want to ‘remain at the table’: UNEP chief. I wondered how many people even noticed the news. I did another search and found a bit more information: How a global plastic treaty could cut down pollution—if the world can agree on one. The articles name Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Iran and the large presence of people working for oil and gas firms and plastic manufacturers as the group that wants to ‘manage waste’ instead of capping production (and if production is not capped it is projected to climb dramatically). Based on a story from Reuters it appears that the United States, the world's number two plastics producer behind China, should have been listed with the three other countries blocking a deal. One positive development was that top plastics producer China publicly acknowledged the need to address the full-life cycle of plastics.

I am planning to do a series of posts on the Plastics Crisis as I learn more…as I search for a course of action that can make a difference. My next post will be after I attend the workshop.